Abstract

The first international agreement which articulated the need to protect „undisclosed information” against acts of unfair competition was the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights signed on 15 April 1994. More than twenty years later, on 8 June 2016, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union adopted Directive 2016/943 on the protection of undisclosed know-how and business information (trade secrets) against their unlawful acquisition, use and disclosure, in which provides a definition of the term „trade secret”. Thus, this article makes an attempt to provide a full definition of the term „trade secret” in force under the Polish legal order, taking into account the provisions of the above-mentioned Agreement and Directive.